Money money money.
NHL owners, get your checkbooks ready!
The NHL and NHLPA announced the salary cap for the next three seasons this morning, and there’s going to be significantly more room to spend.
The cap limits for the next three seasons will be:
- 2025-2026: $95.5 million
- 2026-2027: $104 milion
- 2027-2028: $113.5 million
The figure for next season represents a $7.5 million jump over the current upper limit of the salary cap, no small figure — that’s basically one middle-to-upper-end contract.
A release from the league did contain a slight caveat:
The projected Team Payroll Ranges for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 seasons will be subject to potential minor adjustments (up or down).
The parties still intend to meet to discuss other elements of the Collective Bargaining Agreement that might need modification and/or improvement beyond the 2025-26 season.
Still, those fluctuations will likely be a million dollars or so, barring some catastrophic decline in revenue.
Needless to say, the next couple of years will be a good time to be hitting free agency, with salary cap growth of +$25 million over the next three seasons.
It’s worth noting that the salary cap floor will be rising as well, with the 2027-2028 floor nearly as high as the current cap:
- 2025-2026: $70.6 million
- 2026-2027: $76.9 million
- 2027-2028: $83.9 million
Connor McDavid will be due for a new contract at the end of the 2025-2026 season, and while him setting an NHL record for biggest contract was always a given, that figure projects to be significantly higher than before.
Not a bad time to be an NHL player or owner, I guess!